While that may be true, I’m not sure that an aging Keith Richards is what the brand needs right now. He lacks the sophistication and relevance to bring younger customers to the venerable brand and I’m not convinced that he’s going to make the older ones consider returning to the store with freshly minted money. And while I’m in an area of complete conjecture I’ll go ahead and question his International appeal, one segment that is still clicking for Louis Vuitton.

But a strange thing does happen sometimes when formulating a brand strategy. You look at all your deficits, your attributes and your values and realize that a gradual shift won’t do the brand any good because it will be too incremental for anyone to notice. You realize that what your brand needs is a bit of seismic change. So you decide to swing wildly to the other side of the spectrum with the foregone conclusion that you’ll pull the brand back to the middle ground within 6 months to a year. The press notices, blogs notice and if you’re lucky your customers notice. You’re able to bring it back to the center before your successful consumer conversation transforms itself into alienation. Maybe that’s the thought here. Maybe.